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Chess holds a unique allure. The tension between strategy and impulse, risk and loss, all set to the beat of a ticking clock. It’s universally hypnotic to watch a chess match unfold, and a bit profound considering how the game transcends human notions of language and luck. That artistic interpretation is at the core of Chess Club, a one-of-a-kind magazine shop and mineral water bar recently opened in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood by co-founders Andrew Simon and Christy Lai.
“Also, the coolest kids in elementary school went to chess club,” Simon says.
Initially launched in September 2023 as a series of print-centric pop-ups across the city, Chess Club officially activated a long-vacant space on Northwest 6th Avenue at Glisan Street in October 2024. It stocks dozens of print publications from around the world, from popular periodicals like Monocle and Popeye to one-off art books and zines you’ll never find at Powell’s. Subversive publications like Butt magazine, FUKT, Merde and Berm offer eye-opening zooms into queer, fashion, and art subcultures.
Publishers like Broccoli and Masala Noir explore experimental design and printing techniques, treating every page like its own tactile piece of art. In Chess Club’s coolers, numerous glass and aluminum bottles provide another way to explore faraway realms, from the German mineral-rich Gerolsteiner ($4.99, 25.3 fluid ounces) to Norway’s smooth Eira ($11.99, 23.7 fl oz), or sparkling Antipodes water pulled from the deepest volcanic aquifer in New Zealand ($7.99, 16.9 fl oz). Clean and crisp Oregon brands like Cascade Mountain ($2.99, 12 fl oz) also make an appearance. For the unfamiliar, Cascade Mountain tastes clean and fresh, without discernable flavors or a sense of added anything—like water in its purest form.
“I’ve been obsessed with mineral water ever since I learned that purified water is acidic and missing electrolytes, which are actually minerals that our bodies need to hydrate,” Lai says. “It felt like it belonged in this space that was becoming a container for our shared interests.”
“We’re trying to serve as a portal to the rest of the world,” Simon says. “Water or magazines, these are avenues for discovery.”
Longtime friends in the creative community, Lai is a multidisciplinary designer and current head of creative technology at footwear design studio HILOS, and Simon, a Portland native, has taught language arts and creative writing at alternative high schools and Mt. Hood Community College for seven years.
“We both saw the value of community learning spaces and creating a hub for people who care about print the way that we do,” Simon says. “There are few magazine-specific shops like this in the country.”
The colorful shelves fill the void left when Rich’s Cigar Store stopped selling magazines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then some. Lai is in the process of setting up her dream design lab in the back of the space where artists can fabricate prototypes of unique concepts, like her current series of micro stationery—functional packs of lined 1-inch index cards and 2-inch graph paper printed on Tomoe River 68 GSM artist grade paper. Simon helms Chess Club’s diverse event programming, ranging from magazine launch parties, panels on independent publishing, and actual chess club meetups. Although specifically tailored to two people’s interests, the space is fast becoming a dynamic watering hole for Portland State University students, Wieden + Kennedy creatives, tourists, aspiring writers, and voracious readers alike.
“It reminds me of how Steve Jobs talked about intentionally putting the bathrooms far away from work areas to foster organic collisions between people from different teams,” Lai says.
TASTE IT: Chess Club, 435 NW 6th Ave., chessclub.art. Noon–6 pm Thursday–Sunday.